The Empty Nest is a main story mission in Starfield where you will hunt down an Artifact with an adorable father and daughter duo, Sam and Cora. During this adventure, you will take on the role of an investigator to find the artifact maps and somehow end up resolving a bank heist situation as well.
To unlock The Empty Nest in Starfield, you must complete the prerequisites, The Old Neighborhood and One Small Step. Once you have completed them, you can pay a visit to Sam Coe to start the mission.
Talk to Sam Coe
To start the Empty Nest quest in Starfield, head over to The Lodge in New Atlantis on Jemison, Alpha Centauri star system. In the greenhouse adjacent to the Library you can talk to Sam Coe, the expert from Freestar Collective, about the Artifact Chi. He shares that he has a lead on how to get to it but first, you need to find the artifact maps for the precise location.
This will start The Empty Nest mission and you have to take Sam and his daughter, Cora, to Akila City in the Cheyenne System in search of the maps.
Unexplored Route Prompt
You might notice that the Cheyenne System is colored Red with an “Unexplored Route” prompt popping up when you click on it. This is because you are not in the traveling vicinity of the system or have not visited it before.
You can just follow the line in your ship till you reach Olympus or jump to Olympus if you have it unlocked. You will now be able to grav jump to Akila City on Akila.
Job Gone Wrong Side Mission
After landing in Akila City, talk with Sam to learn more about Solomon’s maps during The Empty Nest mission. Follow him to the city’s entrance where the guard, Daniel Blake, will cut the conversation short. He will warn you about the hostage situation at the local Galbank branch, making the city an unsafe place to move around in.
Let him know that you are willing to offer your services. This will start the Job Gone Wrong side quest in Starfield, which you must complete to make progress in The Empty Nest. Head over to the city center for the Galbank Vault, the bank under attack. You can approach this situation in two ways, persuade them to drop their arms or take out the robbers.
Choice: Persuade or Kill the Robbers?
The method of dealing with the robbers will not affect the outcome of the Job Gone Wrong mission in Starfield. Both will lead you to get praised by Blake, who will be impressed with your skills either way.
The only difference is persuading will earn you an extra 10XP, so unless you are farming XP, you can go with either option.
Get the Maps
After dealing with the robbers, head inside the Galbank and search Sam’s locker for Solomon’s maps. Instead, you will find a note called “Note for Sam”, addressed to him by someone named “Jacob”. Sam is not happy about Jacob, since he has to visit his father in the Coe estate to retrieve the maps.
Use your hand scanner and follow the trail to Jacob’s house. He and Sam try to talk things out but Jacob refuses to give up the family heirloom. There are three main ways you can make Jacob hand over the Artifact maps in The Empty Nest.
Best choice: persuade Jacob, ask Cora for help, or make Sam a distraction?
The best option here is to go for persuading Jacob since it is the easiest way to handle things. It is a smaller 4-bar check that you can complete by first telling him that Constellation wants to follow Solomon’s work and then assuring him that you will be respectful of the maps.
Making Sam distract him is a great option as well but requires a Digipick and Novice lock-picking. Lastly, you can ask Cora for assistance back on the ship.
Once you bring her to the estate, Jacob will give you the keys to the office but Sam will dislike this decision. It will negatively impact your relationship with him if you are trying to romance Sam.
Travel to the Empty Nest and get the Artifact
Now it’s time to finally find and retrieve the Artifact from the Empty Nest in Starfield. Talk to Sam to locate the exact position and head over to the village next to the abandoned mines on the outskirts of Akila City.
You will find Shaw Gang camping near the entrance to the cave. They are not hostile till they detect you. You can avoid any confrontation by sneaking around the camp or go in guns blazing.
Tip: The turrets placed around The Empty Nest can be turned off or against the enemy. Enter the camp from the side and access the terminal to adjust the settings accordingly.
Fight your way through the enemies to enter Shaw’s hideout. Keep moving through the cave until you reach the metal gate. You can just jump over it using the crates on the side to reach the mineral deposit. Grab the Artifact Chi by freeing it from under the crystals using a cutter.
Deal with Shaw
Shaw is the head of the Shaw Gang and claims to be the original owner of the Artifact Chi. Once you exit the hideout with the Artifact, she will ambush you alongside her gang. There are a few different ways you can deal with this situation.
Best Choice: Persuade, Pay, or Attack Shaw?
The best thing is to persuade Shaw during the Empty Nest mission since it is the only option without any further consequences in Starfield. If you have enough money to spare, you can get out of the situation by paying her 4000 Credits.
You can also just attack her gang and keep fighting them till the Ashta monsters attack. Since it is just a waste of resources and time, we steered away from this.
Tip: If you end up fighting the Shaw Gang, retrieve back to The Empty Nest cave. The enemies will come in one by one, making the crowd manageable. The situation also blows over quickly than fighting them out on the field.
Optional: Kill the Ashta
During your encounter with Shaw, a group of space monsters called the Ashta will attack. We highly recommend helping her out with this by only attacking the Ashta and not hitting any of the Shaw Gang members. In the end, she will give you a Modified Razorback with 7.55mm Whitehot ammo.
If you attack them, even accidentally, she will turn against you even if you previously persuaded her successfully. This will result in no reward.
Tip: Avoid using grenades or explosives, as Shaw’s crew and friendlies can easily get caught in the splash damage.
Return to the Lodge
This is the last objective of The Empty Nest mission in Starfield, where you must safely transport the Artifact back to the Lodge in New Atlantis. After that, Sam will come and thank you for your help and extend his services to you, provided Cora can tag along.
After completing The Empty Nest in Starfield, you will get 7200 Credits, 350 XP, and Sam Coe as a recruitable companion. You will also unlock the All That Money Can Buy main mission if you have completed its other requirements.
Starfield The Empty Nest Bugs
There are a few bugs that players may encounter in Starfield while playing The Empty Nest mission. The first one is where you cannot see the directions on the hand scanner. You can fix this by going back into orbit, landing somewhere else, and then returning, or by restarting the game.
Unable to bring the Artifact back to the Lodge
The next bug players face is at the end of The Empty Nest mission where both, the Artifact and Sam Coe get stuck. Despite retrieving the Artifact, it is shown to still be embedded in the rock crystals and Sam Coe keeps saying that you need to take it back to the Constellation HQ.
The cause of the bug is unknown but there is a way to fix the bug. Press the “~” key to open the command prompt and enter the “Setstage 000114C9 900” console command. Once you press enter, it will skip the entire mission, fixing the glitch.
However, it is only possible for PC players since Xbox players cannot use console commands. As this fix allows you to bypass the quest rather than play through it, it is better to wait for an official fix from Bethesda.
